James Bond gets a lesson in Indian travel

6th September 2011

India has asked the makers of the latest James Bond movie to change a stunt that would show people travelling on the roofs of trains

Anyone who has travelled through India will be familiar with the sight of hundreds of people travelling on train rooftops. However, Indian authorities have told Bond film makers that this cannot be filmed, saying that this type of travel is not a regular sight.

Dinesh Trivedi, Indian Railways Minister, said that the original Bond script could have led viewers to believe that rooftop travel is common in India.

"There are many trains in India and not all trains have people travelling on the rooftops," he said.

"Rooftop travel is illegal in India and it cannot be encouraged." Trivedi added, referring to Indians who attempt to travel without paying for a ticket.

Daniel Craig, who will once again be playing the role of 007 in the new Bond film, was originally scripted to jump from a motorcycle onto a moving train-roof packed with travellers, and then onto another one.

Trivedi has said that the stunt can be performed, but only if there is nobody on the roof of the train. He said showing people travelling on the roof would show the state-run railway in a poor light.

He stated that, "Rooftop travel will not be shown, (the filming) has to be safe and passengers should not be inconvenienced."

The makers of the new, currently untitled movie (Bond-23 for now), have agreed to Trivedi's conditions.

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